Tully's, which once saw itself as competition for Starbucks in the global coffee market, appears to be in hot water.

Global Baristas US LLC, the holding company that bought Tully's for $9.2 million in 2013, finds itself in trouble with Washington tax collectors and at least one landlord. The company owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes and is being sued for failing to pay rent on its offices on the Seattle waterfront near Pike Place Market.

According to documents from the state Department of Revenue and the Department of Labor and Industries, Global Baristas has three active bills for back taxes totaling just under $360,000. With additional penalties, the company currently owes the state $422,212. An additional bill for more than $130,000 in back taxes was settled with the Department of Revenue in May.

Repeated calls to numbers listed as belonging to Global Baristas this week went through to full voicemail boxes, but a Global Baristas spokesperson downplayed the tax warrants in an email to SeattlePI, saying:

"Any suggestion that Tully's has not timely and properly paid its taxes is patently false. As is often common with companies with multiple reporting divisions, clerical errors occur by various governmental agencies relating to how financial reporting occurs, how payments are recorded and to which accounts those payments are posted. Any company of significant size and complexity routinely deals with similar issues."

The company's problems aren't limited to taxes. Earlier this month, a King County Superior Court judge ordered Global Baristas to pay more than $102,000 in back rent and damages to landlord Unico Properties after missing rent payments totaling more than $46,000 on its offices at 2003 Western Ave.

Global Baristas was ordered to vacate the property. A sign outside the office Thursday told visitors the office was closed and asked that any deliveries be left at the Tully's cafe on the first floor.

"Landlord tenant disputes are not unusual and hardly newsworthy," the spokesperson said via email.

Citing "people familiar with the situation," Capitol Hill Seattle reported Tuesday that the Tully's cafe at 19th Avenue East and East Aloha Street will close at the end of the month.

Tully's was founded by Tom O'Keefe in 1992, with the first cafe opening in Kent. The company filed for bankruptcy in October 2012, two years after O'Keefe retired. It sold its wholesale and online business and brand to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters -- now Keurig Green Mountain -- in 2009 to solve debt disputes.

"Tully's is a privately held company that treats its privacy seriously in this day and age," the spokesperson wrote. "Regardless, the company has enjoyed and continues to enjoy tremendous financial success and expects to do so in the future."